Will Donald Trump face a single trial before November?

Not long ago it seemed Donald Trump’s campaign to win another term as president would be made impossible by the battery of legal cases against him.

The 77-year-old confronted 91 separate charges spread out in four cases and in four different locations. Supporters and critics alike wondered how he would hop from a hearing in New York to one in Atlanta and still find time to campaign.

Now that seemingly insurmountable challenge looks very different, and it is unclear whether the former president will undergo a single trial before November.

Just this week, a trial over payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels that was meant to begin later this month was put back by 30 days. 

Since the different prosecutions were brought against him, it has been Mr Trump’s strategy to delay all proceedings, with the plan being to offer himself a pardon if he is re-elected, or at least muddy Democrats’ attacks against him. 

A senior source in the Trump 2024 campaign told The Telegraph they were feeling optimistic about the prospect he will avoid facing trial before election day on Nov 5.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and dismissed them as a “witch hunt” by Joe Biden, who he will face off against once again.

‘Every week, something happens to slow cases down’

Mr Trump knows some polls show a majority of Americans - 53 per cent - would would not vote for him as president if he was convicted on any of the charges. 

Other polls, including those taken among Republican primary voters in South Carolina, said two thirds would still vote for him in such circumstances.

“When the four indictments were brought against him in quick succession, legal experts were trying to game out which would come to trial first,” said Professor Will Thomas of the University of Michigan.

“But almost every week it seems something unexpected has happened with the effect to slow things down.”

The former president’s prospects received a boost this week from an unexpected source when prosecutors in New York looking at whether so-called hush-money payments to Ms Daniels constituted business fraud and violated federal campaign finance laws agreed to a 30-day delay. (Mr Trump had requested a 90-day pause.)

The trial had been due to start on March 25, and was the only one of the four prosecutions with an actual calendar date that had been fixed. But with Mr Trump’s lawyers seeking more material from the office of Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, it has been delayed until at least mid-April.

In an embarrassing development for Mr Bragg, the prosecutors themselves backed Mr Trump’s request, as it emerged there had been a clash between local and federal officials relating to an earlier investigation in the case in 2018 that focused on Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s former personal lawyer.

Cohen had previously pleaded guilty to improperly making payments to Ms Daniels to buy her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Mr Trump before the 2016 election.

Trump has three Georgia counts dismissed 

In Atlanta, Georgia, Mr Trump’s efforts to dismiss a case about allegedly pressuring officials to lie about the results of the 2020 election to his benefit have not been successful.

He has had three out of the 13 counts he faced dismissed, but not the central charge of the racketeering indictment.

This week, Mr Trump had another partial success when a judge said that Fani Willis, the prosecutor, can only continue on the case if she removes a lawyer, Nathan Wade, whom she appointed to lead the prosecution.

A court has been hearing testimony about a private relationship between Ms Wills and Mr Wade that Mr Trump’s lawyers claimed amounted to a conflict of interest.

A judge disagreed, but scolded Ms Willis for displaying poor judgment and Mr Wade resigned on Friday. 

Mr Trump’s supporters say her reputation is now damaged. Another outcome is that Mr Trump’s case has been delayed as a result of the own goal by prosecutors.

The prosecution has proposed an Aug 5 start,  but that is likely to be pushed back. 

Prof Anthony Michael Kreis, a constitutional law expert and professor at Georgia State University, said: “It’s not implausible to say that we’ll have a September trial or an October trial perhaps.

“But I wouldn’t bet any money on a timeline.”

Supreme Court wrangling has delayed federal trials

There is also uncertainty about the two federal cases Mr Trump faces - one relating to his alleged holding on to classified documents and one relating to his role in alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election result.

The latter case was due to have begun this month with special counsel Jack Smith last year saying the prosecutions were intended to show a commitment to the “rule of law”.

“We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone,” he said when the two federal cases were brought.

Mr Trump has sought to have both thrown out, most recently by arguing he had immunity to prosecution in his former position as president. He has now included this as part of his speech to voters and in regular posts on social media.

“A president of the United States must have full immunity, without which it would be impossible for him/her to properly function,” he wrote in January.

The Supreme Court has agreed to look into the issue and re-examine a ruling by lower courts that found he did not have immunity, with oral arguments set to begin on April 25. The justices earlier declined a request from the prosecutors to speedily rule on the matter.

That means the Supreme Court may not issue a decision until the end of June. 

Even if the top court rules in favour of Mr Smith and not the former president - which most experts think it will - the original election case has already been pushed back from its original start date of March 4 by judge Tanya Chutkan. 

She has said she will wait for the Supreme Court ruling and that it will take an estimated 88 days to get ready for trial after that is issued. 

In the classified documents case, US District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled this week against the former president’s claim that the Espionage Act did not apply to the facts of his case.

At the moment, the start date is May 20, but both the prosecution and defence have asked for that to be pushed back. 

The special counsel has offered July 8 as a rescheduled start, while Mr Trump’s lawyers have said the earliest they would be ready to begin is August.

Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, has not shown any inclination to move proceedings along more quickly than required. 

Prof Susan Estrich, of the University of Southern California School of Law, said it remained unclear whether Mr Trump would actually begin any of his cases before election day.

“Anyone who says they know the answer to that question is just speculating,” she said.

“It really depends on the Supreme Court and what it does with the immunity case.”

Under US law, nobody can be involved in multiple criminal trials at the same time. 

While Mr Bragg’s case looks the most likely to be ready, he has said he will defer to Mr Smith in the DC election case if the special counsel gets a green light and the Supreme Court decides Mr Trump does not have immunity.

Karoline Leavitt, the national press secretary for Mr Trump’s 2024 campaign, said: “The truth about all of the Biden-led witch hunts against President Trump is slowly being revealed, and President Trump remains laser focused on winning in November to make America great again.”